Clones on the run

Rating: 4/10 (9 June 2014)

This box office bomb lowered troubled DreamWorks selling price over a hundred million dollars and stalled a deal with Universal, before being bought out by Paramount. Considering the amount of product placement in The Island, the film should have practically been paid for. In fact, the whole film visually resembles a commercial. No matter how much Bay blames the actors for not being a big enough draw or the marketing failing, The Island's failures rest on his shoulders. The premise is an interesting one, about clones being harvested for their human counterparts. But the film is not really interested in that idea, it just uses that as a springboard for two clones on the run, who end up in a dumb action film. You might ask, why even bother to animate the clones and give them consciousness and identities if they are going to the butcher shop soon anyway - but the film tosses in a quick throwaway line to address that illogical premise. The organs failed without the human experience or human connections - top notch writing. Once on the run, our two uninteresting clones end up in a series of expensive chases, with lots of property damage, and are sought after by the super serious Djimon Hounsou - who's lines usually consist of "do not let them get away, do not let them get away!" I'm sure his henchmen needed the extra reminder not to let them get away. The Island is a soulless product that is overlong and the quickly edited action is repetitive and boring.